Ulster commander 'suggested ringleaders should be shot'

Britain's most senior frontline officer on Bloody Sunday today accepted that rioters could be killed if soldiers acted on his suggestion that they shoot ringleaders.

General Sir Robert Ford, 78, the Commander of the Land Forces in Northern Ireland in January 1972, told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry that he suggested the best way to help maintain law and order was to "shoot selected ringleaders" among the Bogside's stone-throwing rioters - dubbed the Derry Young Hooligans (DYH).

He made the suggestion in a secret memo to his superior in Ulster, Lieutenant General Sir Harry Tuzo, the General Officer Commanding (GOC).

Soldiers should use rifles adapted to fire .22 inch ammunition after clear warnings had been issued.

This was three weeks before Bloody Sunday, when

British paratroopers opened fire on a Londonderry march on 30 January 1972, killing 13 unarmed civilians. Sir Robert told the inquiry that he was not advocating a shoot-to-kill policy because "shoot and kill are obviously different words".

Under questioning by inquiry counsel Christopher Clarke QC, he agreed that rioters could have been killed but added that use of .22 bullet would have been a less lethal or "marginally lethal" option than using the 7.62mm Army issue bullet.

The aim was to incapacitate a band of DYH who created anarchy by stone-throwing, destruction and arson while hidden under sniper fire, Sir Robert said.

The memo was written after Sir Robert met with Londonderry traders who were worried about violence encroaching into the city centre.

Conventional crowd control methods such as CS gas and baton rounds were proving ineffective.

Mr Clarke pointed out that soldiers are trained to "shoot-to-kill".

Sir Robert replied that soldiers are taught to shoot this way with a 7.62mm bullet.

Mr Clarke asked: "If they are taught to shoot-to-kill by firing at a position on the body where the bullet is likely to kill them, the same is highly likely to arise even if they use a .22 bullet."

Sir Robert replied that "it is likely to arise but less likely" than with a 7.62mm bullet.

Mr Clarke asked: "If you fire a .22 at somebody at a 50-yard range, if you are attempting to kill him and are a well trained soldier, you are likely to do so, are you not?"

Sir Robert replied: "It depends on the accuracy of the weapon and I do not know anything about that at this stage."

He was aware his suggestion was outside the Army's rules of engagement but it was not implemented. It was merely a possible idea of how to deal with the hooligan threat, Sir Robert said.

It would have needed more research and retraining before getting the go-ahead from the Government and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and becoming enforceable.

Sir Robert pointed out that the weapons he was referring to had been developed by the MOD at the request of a previous GOC for public use in Northern Ireland. He was just looking at the possibility of using it.